I recently came across a little book by Caroline Taggart called An Apple a Day: Old-Fashioned Proverbs–Timeless Words to Live By. (The Reader’s Digest, 2011). I thought I would have some fun, so I have given the first part of the proverb to see if you can fill in the second part properly, i.e., by disregarding my attempts to be humourous on the second part (which are in bold):
Absence makes you more likely for detention
Actions speak louder than no actions
It takes all kinds to fill a boutique
All that glitters advertises Crest toothpaste
All work and no play is best at monasteries
All’s fair at the fairgrounds
All’s well if dug deeply enough
An apple a day will soon deplete a small orchard
Ask no questions and you will sit in the back row
A bad penny depicts poor minting
Barking dogs soon get hoarse
Beauty is in the eye but the doctor can get it out
Beauty is only wrinkle deep
You’ve made your bed so you can watch TV tonight
Beggars can’t be where there is no soliciting allowed
The best things in life are on Black Friday
Better late than early
Better the devil you know than watching TV evangelists
The bigger they are the more they cost
A bird in the hand is not as messy as two
Birds of a feather have not yet molted
Once bitten twice thrown up
You can’t get blood out of collapsed veins
Blood is thicker than grandma’s tomato soup
Boys will be—who knows these days?
You can’t make bricks without a lot of work
A new broom seems to break easily
You can’t have your cake if you have already had pie
There is always calm when there is no wind
When the cat’s away the dog has nothing to do
A change is as good as a vacation
Charity begins with the Salvation Army
Children should be seen if at all possible
Cleanliness is next to impossible
Every cloud has to be in the sky
Cold hands, wear gloves
Two’s company, three’s more likely
Too many cooks show up at camp
Don’t count your chickens if there are foxes around
Don’t cross your bridges with toothpicks
It’s no use crying over onions
Curiosity killed the manhole expert
The darkest hour is just before you fill the lantern
Desperate situations call for Obamacare
The devil finds work for those unemployed
Discretion is the better example when walking your dog
Do unto others as others never do
A drowning man will clutch your snorkel
The early bird catches cold
Early to bed, early to rise, makes you miserable, but small in size
Easier said than spelled
Easy come, don’t bother calling
You’ve got to eat a peck of pickled peppers before you belch
Don’t put all your eggs back under the hen
An elephant never travels light
To err is human, to forgive requires pressure
Every little bit needs cleaning up
The exception proves the formula was wrong
Familiarity breeds relatives
A fool and his money are ideal TV watchers
Fools rush in where salespeople reside
Forewarned is necessary when playing golf
A friend in need will accept a minimum of $10
Give a man enough rope and he’ll become a cowboy
God helps those who tithe
The grass is always greener over new cemetery plots
Half a loaf is better than working all day
Many hands make you eligible for the circus
Handsome is as Hollywood does
Haste makes one hurry
Two heads are better if there are two bodies
Hell hath no furry like a skinned rat
Home is where the rent is due
Honesty is the best claim for a politician
There is honor among dog shows
Hope springs eternal in the Ozark Mountains
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t ride him home
Ignorance is quite common
Imitation is the sincerest form of plagiarism
Jack of all trades, including the John
If a job’s worth doing, you should get paid
Never judge a book by John Grisham
Laugh and the whole world will look the other way
He who laughs last is not married
Laughter is the best way to be funny
A leopard cannot change its own diaper
Lightning never strikes twice if once will do
A little learning is common these days
Live and you won’t die
Look before you find your glasses
Don’t look a gift horse near its back end
Every man has his dirty socks
A man is known by the way he walks
A man’s best friend is often not home
A man’s home is where he often lives
A miss is as good as a misses
Money doesn’t grow on moldy bread
Necessity is the mother of poor grooming
Never put off till tomorrow if it is still yesterday
No news is good, and often on TV
Nothing ventured, nothing bought on-line
Out of sight, out behind the billboard
Patience is a method of waiting
He who pays the piper hears bad music
The pen is mightier than most pencils
People who live in glass houses should dress warmly
Little pitchers have bad luck in baseball
Possession is nine-tenths of keeping it
Practice makes one tired
An ounce of prevention will only be weighed on good scales
Pride goes before the lion
The proof of the pudding is right near the top
A prophet is without honor in horse races
It never rains but the rain gauge is full
The road to hell is paved with many potholes
All roads lead to Walmart
Rome wasn’t built in France
When in Rome, do as the pope says
What’s sauce for the goose tastes good on chicken too
Seeing is sometimes better with glasses
If the shoe fits, it is probably the right size
Let sleeping dogs dream of bones
Slow but steady is best when walking on a log
Where there’s smoke there is burnt hamburger
As you sow, so shall you have clothes
Spare the rod and the car may be out of line
Sticks and stones may break my bones but the Dr will fix them
A stitch in time is difficult, moving as it does through space
The straw that broke the camel’s back was a Lucky Strike
Strike while the iron is not yet melted
If at first you don’t succeed, try being a missionary
You can’t take it with you if it’s too heavy
Speak of the devil and a TV evangelist will appear
You can’t teach an old dog the new math
Time flies when you are paying by the minute
There’s a time and a place for everything but throwing up
Truth is stranger than TV
United we stand, divided we stood
Variety is what you get in a Subway sandwich
Variety is the spice of the Thrift shop
The walls have to be painted
A watched pot can tell time
Where there’s a will there are relatives waiting to get something
Two wrongs don’t make a short sentence in jail
You’re only young with the proper cosmetics